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Thesea trial, this test that one undertakes before buying or after completion of a boat is according to me, often only a half a day or a day trip on

the coastal waters or in the harbour. Each yacht has its own characteristics, we are new onboard, and it will probably not be the best conditions to really learn something about the boat. Motor, full power, manoeuvres, right, left, straight, head in the bilge and sails up and down. In our heads, the stories of the owner telling how many storms his ship went through, etc ... After all this, how can you know about the real behaviour of the boat off shore?

Well, our first trip with Wakataitea was similar.

After two years and six months of boat building, I stood with wobbly knees behind the wheel.

First manoeuvre: 100m backwards to get out of the slipways channel. On the shore a dozen people hold the ropes while talking with the neighbours. They try to chat with us but we could not hear them because of the noise of the engine.

I try to act cool, put backward gear in, look over my shoulder to see if everything is free. The water bubbles around the propeller and Wakataitea moves slowly ... forward, toward the wall of the slipway. The crowds roar still resounds in my ears. The gearbox is connected the wrong way. Backward is forward!

Oops, shit happens. I quickly put the gear handle to the other direction, the boat stops and goes back in the right way. Emergency stop works fine!, I shout to the crowd, looking with smiling

faces and taut lines, saved us from the concrete wall. Isabelle is suddenly beside me with wrinkled brows and expects a report. Not now.

Now we have a channel 100m astern, which is just 5m wider than the boat. Our friend Andy sits in his dinghy with the outboard ready and helps us pull the boat backwards out of the channel.

Almost out, now everything goes according to plan as we reach the end of the slipway to waving hands and flashes of cameras.

The engine is warm now, the crews bring up the mooring lines and we shoot at 5kts down the river. Isabelle is back beside me, holding my hand with a sigh of relief. Bon Voyage, Cheri and a kiss is our tradition when we go on a long sailing trip.

All systems run well and the steering gear luckily is in the right direction. Full turn and we go back up the river, stop the boat and start again ... we do that for half an hour. Isabelle takes the wheel and I check the bilge to make sure there is no water coming in.

The first 25,000nm on our Wharram

n hans Lammens

O u r s a i l i n g e x p e r i e n c e w i t h t h e h o m e - m a d e J a m e s W h a r r a m c a t a m a r a n T i k i 4 6 W a k a t a i t e a .

main pic above left: One reef in the main and in the jib.above: Enjoying free space on deck.

First manoeuvre getting out of the slipway!

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The sailmaker had not finished all the sails yet so we leave it at that and throw the anchor in front of the shipyard. The engine is switched off. What a relief. The tension is released slowly. Isabelle and I climb into the dinghy and we drive around the boat to see how it looks from far away. She is well-balanced and looks great in the suns reflection. The boat is huge, says Isabelle.

The pop of a champagne bottle rips us out of our daydream and we go back on board. A large boarding platform astern of the boat makes it easy to board. The six crew members of the day are scattered on the open deck and champagne glasses go around, followed by fine salmon sandwiches.

A short speech from the captain, The Wakataitea project is finished, Cheers! ... Everybody is happy, laughing and cheering.

Lets hoist the sails and go.

A week later we have all our sails onboard. We install them at anchor and lift them up and down several times. Everything fits well. Lets go!

Whangarei Harbour sits in a round and large river basin surrounded by little mountains. So with little wind we drift more than we sail with the flow down the river but we are still able to tack. Even at 3kts, the boat tacks through the wind, for a catamaran, this is not bad.

We reach the river mouth and slowly reach the waves. Our boat is still quiet in the water, no squeaking or scratching of the lashings which hold the boat together. A fresh breeze is coming up and we go forward. Twelve knots apparent wind and we are sailing 50 upwind at 6-7kts. Super, for the first time with our Wharram we are already

a knot faster than the top speed of our previous yacht. We feel as if we are flying!

The wind turns a bit more, we sail downwind and the waves are about 3ft high. Everything is alright. I go inside the hulls to see if the cups stand still in the cupboard. Okay for the first stardboard tack. We head up into the wind, and then go through, keep the headsail back and the boat turns around. Not many differences from our monohull.

The catamaran accelerates again and we set course for Auckland, 80nm south.

The Louis Vuitton Race IS going on out there and we would like to have a look at it. The wind comes on the beam and we sail at 7-8kts. We play with the sails and experience different trims until we find the best ones.

As the day comes to an end we head for a place to anchor for the night. The mainsail falls in the lazyjacks and we drop the anchor. We sit on deck with our sundowner drinks to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and celebrate our successful first sailing day.

An early morning start with 25nm still to reach Auckland. The wind is like the day before and it is blowing nicely. Around noon we see many sails on the horizon. Some of them are heeling almost to the waterline.

It is Saturday and the Louis Vuitton race is at its highlight. Here in the Hauraki Gulf it always blows stronger than outside. We now have 15kts apparent wind on the deck and we sail downwind with 8-9kts toward the sailing boats. The race comes to meet us and the racing yachts turn around the buoy when they are almost within earshot.

New sails pop out, a spinnaker is torn out shortly after. I am very excited and try to rush behind the guys. Isabelle reminds me sharply that we are not allowed to do that! A security boat sees us with our strange crab claw sail and crosses our path closely. Okay, I turn the wheel around and we sail on a reach. The apparent wind is now up to 22kts and the boat shoots at 11kts through the water.

I get a small lump in my throat when I see how the leeside shrouds are loose. Isabelles eyes are worried, Im not so proud anymore and my knees become soft. I try to calm down thinking that Wharrams are flexible boats and yes, this is all perfectly normal. But we dont feel really comfortable with it so we turn into the wind and drop the mainsail into the lazy jacks. The boat sails slowly under jib with 3kts and we reef the mainsail.

The test! it takes us half an hour to finish everything. The racers have long disappeared over the horizon when we have the sail up again but the gulf is still full of weekend sailors. We shoot off again, crossing the area at 7-8kts, prepare to tack and then come down at the same speed. Its going great, were happy and passing sailing ships wave at us. Wakataiteas type of sail is rarely seen on the water.

The wind increases and we reef the headsail. We now have 45sqm of sailcloth up. The boat is going at the same speed as before and the handling is even better. We learn that we must reef early and that the boat doesnt lose much speed. The rig doesnt look so stressed any more and we can trim the boat so that she holds her course alone.

The evening comes and we are tired with all this lifting sails up and down.

top from left: Inside Wakataitea; View through galley to saloon; Saloon; View from saloon; Wakataiteas bathroom.below left: Lapita boat, given by James Wharram to Tikopia Island in the Solomons.above: In New Zealand.

We head for a sheltered bay and half an hour later we are anchored along with about 50 other boats like ducks in a pond.

Beer cans crack open and fish is on the grill on the neighbouring vessels. A rowing dinghy passes slowly and we hear: Oh, a Wharram, nice boat ...

Small talk with the neighbours. The first 100nm are behind us and we fall into bed, tired.

TwenTy five Thousand nauTical miles laTer

James Wharram used the Polynesians traditional canoes as the basis for its design. They had no metal

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brackets, screws or nails but were fastened with coconut fibre ropes. These two hull canoes, today called catamarans, were built to be flexible and could handle the stress generated by wind and swell. The hull to deck connections could not break or tear. The elasticity of the lashings takes the forces of the movement. This flexibility means that the rig had to be made accordingly, so necessarily loose and not stiff. Rigging screws were out of place. Everything was braced with ropes in order to provide the balance of flexibility.

For sure, it sounds like you are sailing on a bundle of wood. The hulls shaken by the waves and the mast swinging back and forth!

But it is actually not like that! Wakataitea is stiff, even with strong

waves. Only if one put his hand between the hull and deck beams can one notice slight movement. Each of the five large wooden beams are firmly attached on the hulls in four places. Six turns with 10mm rope at each joint guarantee a breaking load of 12 tons. The ropes are tight with a special knot technique which allows the connection to work as a shock absorber.

How long does something like that last? After the first 500nm, we retightened the ropes for the first time. It was necessary because they had just set and the ropes were a little bit stretched. Then we checked them all again after 5000nm, looked for damages and stretch, but not much had happened.

These ropes are exposed to sunlight all the time. We noticed very little or no damage at all on them for the last four years. Nowadays, the quality of the rope is so high and UV stable, that some Wharram owners change their ropes for safety only every 10 years. Im not sure if a stainless steel fitting would last as long. Rust and the constant minimal movements would cause it to break quickly.

Our rudders are attached with ropes with a special knot technique that function as a hinge. They move completely without friction and there will never be any rust or electrolysis.

The wooden mast is held by four shrouds and two forestays. The 7/7 stainless steel wire is used in a traditional style with loops around the mast top. There is no rigging screws. At the lower part, an 8mm rope passes six times through the eye of the shroud to a shackle attached on a chain plate. The rope is then firmly tightened. Here, the attachment system has to be the same as for the hulls.

Our hulls have a V-shape and about 1m draft. For this reason we can sail without daggerboards and the lateral drift is within the normal range. The overhanging bow and stern give a lot of buoyancy when we hit the waves. On our first real offshore trip from New Zealand to Vanuatu (about 1000nm), we were surprised by a low pressure area. Under reefed headsail only Wakataitea handled the 40kts and the rough sea

The eye catcher on Wakataitea is probably the sail. As already mentioned, we have a crabclaw sail or Pacific Latin sail.

Two 10.5m long spars attached at the mast base carry the sail. The relatively short 10.5m mast is really just there to pull up the upper spar. When the sail is up you can see a triangle standing on its top tip, we have the largest sail area on the top aft part.

The sail is attached to the spars with a pocket; this avoids turbulence. The performances of this sail are very different from the conventional Bermuda sail. The crabclaw sail generates, from its form, a vortex lift and thus generates a large lift. Our mainsail is 45sqm and the headsail is 15sqm. This is quite sufficient for our Tiki 46 and her seven tons, even a very little wind will make her move.

From 15kts apparent wind we put the first reef in, the second one with 10kts more.

Reefing the sail is done in a classic way, the bottom of the sail is attached with reef lines on the lower spar. In its full size the sail has an angle of 60. With a reef, the angle is then 45 and 30 with the second reef in. If needed, we can adjust the angle of the sail in the height. With a strong wind, the sail is lower and in little wind we pull it up higher to catch the most wind. Until the mid-construction phase of our boat I had never heard of this sail. A friend who had sailed for years on his catamaran with this rig told me about it.

Over the years and miles of sailing we made only a few small changes. Since the first day our rig works without problems. Tacking through the wind is as easy as with a sailing dinghy. The only disadvantage is that we need some time to reef the sail. Twelve reef lines have to be attached. We can lower the sail even downwind, the weight of the upper spar pushes it down without problems. We have noticed that with one reef and its 45 angle, the sail is

safely. The bows never dived under water. We sailed relatively comfortably at 6-7kts for 20 hours.

With every additional mile I understand more James Wharrams concept. The flexibility, avoiding possible breaking points, cracks due to stress, I find this type of hull/deck connection absolutely brilliant.

top left: No rigging screw to keep the flexibility.top right: Block lashed on the mast.above: Deck view forward.

Tikopia dances.

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actually performing at its best. It is not so important to have fine trimming to sail with a crabclaw rig because of its shape it does not create any turbulence.

I once read that the aeroplane Concorde flew with the same wing shape and it didnt have flaps.

Wakataitea, is for Isabelle and me, our first catamaran. We both owned a monohull before and had never sailed on a catamaran bigger than a Hobie cat.

After 25,000nm we are still very confident that we have made the right choice. On a passage, we cover an average of 150nm/24h, without touching the rudder. The cat sails like it is on rails and the autopilot doesnt have much to do. It becomes bumpy only when the waves come exactly from the side. These are the moments where Im worried about the cups on the shelves.

The cats motion cant be compared with a monohulls. There is no boat movement downwind but high upwind it can be quite rough.

We can sail up to 40 to the apparent wind, but we lose speed, 50 is actually the maximum on high seas. The angle is better and we do not drift sideways. We really take off when the wind is coming from 70 and more. This rig is designed to sail in the trade winds. In a regatta with a triangular course we would have no chance.

Wakataitea is our home and cruising boat. Shes almost fully loaded and we like to sail stress free so we quickly put a reef in the main and maintain a speed of 6-8kts. We have already sailed at a speed of 10kts plus for hours, but this means that we dont sit with a cup of coffee in the cockpit anymore.

conclusionKnock, knock, knock, on a piece of

wood! Since we launched her weve actually had no problems. We do the same service and cleaning as any other boat owner.

and privacy. All is simple and functional. On top, manoeuvring and handling the sails works simply and doesnt require much effort. Okay, that sounds almost boring, however, we have some time to relax and enjoy and this is what we want.

The feedback we get from sailors on the way is positive and Im amazed at how many of them had a Wharram as their first yacht or know someone who owns one. Our outfit is different and even the Islanders in the Pacific come over to us and admire our boat. The sail reminds older men especially of a former time when they also sailed. Today they are pushed by a 20hp Yamaha outboard motor.

Meanwhile as I write this we are at anchor in Madagascar. Well soon

leave for South Africa and then keep going to the Atlantic Ocean.

We use our boat to carry out research and help associations in their work on the marine environment. In Vanuatu we had two marine biologists on board for six weeks who were diving on the reefs to gather statistics about the flora and fauna close to villages, and help the people in their decisions to set up marine reserves. In the Solomon Islands we delivered some goods given by private donors on a remote island. After a tsunami in Tonga we sailed to Nui Topu Tapu to deliver bags and bags of clothes, bed linen and blankets for the villagers who had lost everything. In remote places we often sailed with local people to take them to neighbouring islands, allowing them to see a doctor, visit their familly or be part of an important meeting etc.

Do not be afraid of building your own boat!

In Tonga Islands.

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The concept of James Wharram has kept its promise. Over 50 years of design the Wharram design team have sold more than 7,000 boat plans from 17-65ft. Of course not all of them have been built but it is said that Wharram catamarans are the most numerous designs in the world and that is quite something.

We have a good relationship with James Wharram and Hanneke Boom, through our repeated visits to Tikpoia and Anuta in the Solomons islands, where they have sailed with Klaus Hympendahl and donated the Lapita canoes a few years ago.

To be a Wharram sailor is nothing special but for sure something different.

We feel safe on our yacht at all times. It is very comfortable and has plenty of space on my last birthday 35 people gathered on the deck. Guests on board enjoy the romantic appearance of sailing and the free space on deck. Everyone has their own cabin with private access